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About Me

Life is an adventure to be lived, not read about! I am an addicted arctophile (lover of bears!), quilter, stitcher & craft designer. I have been married to my best friend Scott (AKA My Beloved Geek Boy!) for 25 years ... & still like him! We live in our 'Dream House' on an acre in a semi-rural area that provides inspiration for my craft pattern designing; with an ever-growing population of bears, cloth dolls, quilts & stitchery projects. Grab a cuppa, get comfy & enjoy your visit! :0)

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Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Has anyone seen it?!?! Cos I think it whizzed past when I wasn't looking! EEK! Some very HELPFUL (NOT!!) person the other day cheerfully said, "It will be Christmas before you know it. "My reply ... "Bite your tongue!!!" :0)

The end of another month has rolled around and I have some adventures to come back and share with you, but I thought I'd quickly stop in to remind all you OPAM gals that Sweet Peg and I will be doing our blog-hopping in the next few days, so make sure you update your sidebar lists of finished projects and/or email your final tally for May through to Peg or me. These two things really do make our collection task so much quicker and easier ... and give us more time to stitch on our own projects! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Can't wait to see what all of you have been creating this month ... Peg is in charge of this months' prize draw, so stay tuned in the coming days ... who will be the lucky winners?!?!? We'll just keep you in suspenders a little longer! :0) Hope you're all having a great week so far and I promise to be back soon to tell you what I've been up to. I'll leave you with a little clue ...

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Oh no!! You'd SHOOT me if I hadn't remembered that I forgot to remember to remind you of ... hmmm ... now ... WHAT was I going to tell you?!?!?! Just kidding! :0) I meant to tell you about a GORGEOUS giveaway that my equally GORGEOUS blogging buddy Kerryanne is having over at Shabby Art Boutique. She has made two sweet dollies from some of her thrifting treasures and ... wait for it ... she is GIVING ONE OF THEM AWAY!!WOO! HOO! So make sure you don't miss out ... pop across and check out the lovely (as always!!) photos that Kerryanne has shared of her sweet thrifting sisters ... Tammy and Tamara.

Now ... although Tammy is staying with Kerryanne to be her creative muse, Miss Tamara is looking to find a new home, so hop across and introduce yourself before May 29 and you might be the lucky person to have a new housemate! :0)

There sure are some clever-clogs crafters in blogland, aren't there! :0) OK ... off to ward off marauding mutant veges and invading genetic-modifying aliens!! Yes ... my imagination DOES get me into all sorts of trouble! And if you haven't read my post below ... you'll have NO idea at all what I'm talking about!! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Firstly ... We cleared out most things in the vege patch over a month ago, as everything had come to the end of its season. The only thing we left ... besides a couple of pretty marigolds and the lemon tree in its bright red pot (couple of lemons growing nicely on that one - woo hoo!!) ... was the spring onion crop cos they were still good to use as needed. And then I promptly forgot about them being there!! OOPS! Today when I went out to shout at the dogs for barking at invisible dragons (well, that MUST be what they were barking at, since I couldn't see anything worth actually making so much noise about!!!) I was reminded of my spring onions and thought I'd pick a few to dice up into tonight's dinner ... rissoles ... one of my Beloved Geek Boy's fave meal choices. WELL ... I discovered that where I thought I'd need three spring onions to do the job, I'd actually only need one! Aliens have obviously been messing around with genetically modifying Earth-vegetables, cos the spring onions were MUTANTS!!! Let me show you by putting a mutant spring onion beside a normal size spring onion ...

See!!! The mutant veges are HUGE in comparison! Now ... we actually refer to these as shallots, but the seedling punnet that I planted called them spring onions ... all these different names for the same thing! Whatever we call it, I think it's related to the mutant carrots from last year ...

I'm sure SOME people manage to have normal veges in their vege patch, but apparently, we can't! If you hear news reports of an alien invasion, don't say I didn't warn you! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... next ... A Finish! I did some work on this project over the weekend and finally finished stitching down the binding yesterday ... a mat for my sewing machine to sit on to protect my new sewing desk ...

Ta Da!! As you can see, I added an applique of some Sweet Cherries to my machine mat, complete with a tag to tell us what they are. Hmmm ... just realised I need to sew a button on that tag to look like the hole ... Oops! An ALMOST finish! :0) This is made with some of my Charlevoix fabrics and it matches the bunting I made last month. I also have a matching machine cover in progress. Here is how the mat looks in action ...

I think it looks great with my cornflower blue wall behind it and it will protect the surface of my desk nicely ... not to mention it looks pretty! :0) Will show you the machine cover when I'm finished ... have appliqued and quilted it, just have to turn it into the actual cover shape now.

Last but not least is my Lovely Treat. A while back now, I did a guest blog post for the lovely Annie at her Ruby Slipperz blog. As a thank you, Annie sent me a voucher for The Fat Quarter Shop .... OOOOOOOOHHHH!!! So many fabrics to drool over ... I had to wipe off my keyboard! :0) Well, after quite some deliberation (really, I wanted them ALL!!!! ), I added some of my play money to the voucher and bought myself ...

A Lovely Layer cake. Now, although it IS ... lovely, that is ... that is also the name of the fabric range ... "Lovely" by Sandy Gervais for Moda. Not my usual colours (boy, I seem to be saying that so often lately that maybe I need to just change what my 'usual' colours are! Tee! Hee! Hee!) but it was just so bright, cheerful and ... well ... LOVELY ... that I had to have it. I have a couple of ideas that this might be used for, but in the meantime, I'll just admire the pretties! :0) Thanks again, Annie ... whatever I make from this pretty layer cake will remind me that I've made some wonderful friends through blogging! :0)

So ... I think that's about all from me today. I hope your week is off to a fabulous start and that you're enjoying some time somewhere along the track to create and 'dream', as my inspirational word above my sewing machine says. Here's to the rest of the week being even better ... and in case of that alien invasion ... may the Fabric Force be with you! Tee! Hee! Hee! Til next time ...

Sunday, 22 May 2011

Greetings and salutations to you all!! Sounds fancy, doesn't it ... just an odd quote remembered from a childhood reading of "Charlotte's Web". Yes ... my head is full of the RANDOM! :0) Nothing earth-shattering to share really, just thought it had been a while since I'd dropped in and I should let you all know I'm still here. It's been a busy sort of week, though I'm not sure I have much to show for it ... if you know what I mean! :0)

Let's see ... one of the time-takers this week was our annual morning tea that we hold at work as part of the Cancer Council's "Australia's Biggest Morning Tea". We didn't have huge numbers, due to a clash of dates and a drizzly rainy day, but those of us who gathered had a lovely time chatting and consuming hot beverages, not to mention raising almost $700 for the Cancer Council! How great an effort was THAT!!! :0) I didn't take a lot of photos, as I was busy chatting (I know that comes as a shock to you all!!!) but I DID get someone to take this pic ...

The theme for the morning tea this year was "The Rockin' 50s" cos the QLD Cancer Council is celebrating 50 years of providing support and assistance for people affected by cancer in QLD. Kay and I were the only ones who dressed up. Hmmm ... I look like I'm ready to take off with "The Leader Of The Pack" and Kay looks ready to "Rock Around The Clock" ... bit of a nod to 50's music there! :0)

I spent some time writing the instructions for these this week, too ...

Progress was made, but still some more instruction writing required ... BLECH!! I'm TRYING to be a good girl, Kerryanne ... I promise! :0)

Hmmm ... what else ... oh ... some more time spent in the sewing room making some progress on this ...

... and prepared the applique elements for this ...

I'll be doing a little bit of a road trip with my Beloved Geek Boy later in the week, so wanted to have some hand stitching ready to take with me.

So ... progress made, but no more finishes to share with you, I've just been doing a 'little bit of this' and a 'little bit of that'. Like my logic, my project work does not travel in a continuous or linear direction! Tee! Hee! Hee! What have you been up to this weekend? Some stitching, some planning, some partying??? I hope you've had a good time doing it. :0)

The temperature's starting to drop, so I think it's time to go find my Ugg boots to keep my toesies warm and make myself a cup of tea. About the only thing other than hot drinks to enjoy about this weather is the spectacular show some of our local trees are putting on at the moment ...

Don't you just love this gorgeous deep red!! Usually you don't see the whole tree one colour ... you know ... a few red ones, some half red and some slow green leaves, so you don't get this fabulous all-over colour splash. Not only does it look great, it's stayed looking this way for over a week now ... usually once the colour change happens, the leaves start dropping. I drive past this tree on my way to and from work each day ... not a bad way to start or finish the day! :0)

OK ... off to find that cuppa now. Hope you've found something to add a splash of colour to your weekend, whether it's showy autumn leaves or beautiful spring flowers. Have a FABULOUS week, everyone! Til next time ...

Monday, 16 May 2011

Yes indeedy I DO love "Pom Pom de Paris" fabrics!! :0) I'm ADDICTED to them, I think!!! And I've been playing with them all weekend! So ... as promised, I'm back to show you what this ...

... became after my "I've been thinking ..." episode. I have to say, these projects turned out even BETTER than my mental picture ... yes ... PROJECTS ... more than one! Told you I'd been busy! :0) I won't keep you in suspenders any longer ...

Ta Da!!! Two GORGEOUS bags, ready for any shopping occasion!! I tried a few new things with these bags, had a little play and love how it's all come together. There's the large bag, perfect for a day of fabric shopping with friends, or a sewing outing ... all of your sewing goodies would fit in here!!

I've blanketstitch appliqued a silhouette of the Eiffel Tower and though it's a little hard to see in this picture, "Bonjour" is stitched down the left hand side ... perhaps I should have used four threads, but I quite like the delicate look of it. And there are those cheerful pom poms, along with a lovely wide, stiffened shoulder strap that has deep red jumbo rick-rack set into each side seam. I didn't take a photo of them, but there are also two handy pockets inside to pop your keys, sunnies or phone into so they don't get lost in the depths of your bag ... like MINE tend to! :0) Then there's the smaller version ...

This cute smaller bag is about an A5 size, so just right to hold 'the essentials' for a quick coffee out with friends, ducking down to the shop for milk, or shooting off to pick the kids up from school. On the front is stitched "Bonjour" and on the back ...

... "Au revoir!" Just covering all contingencies there! Tee! Hee! Hee! The shorter strap of this bag has the slightly narrower (about half an inch wide) rick-rack set into the sides of it, as well as some more of those antique-gold pompoms. This bag has a small pocket inside, too, to pop the keys or phone into for easy retrieval. Both bags close with loops over self-covered buttons ... which were kind of fun to play with! :0)

I'm sure they would both look very much at home in a little Parisian sidewalk cafe ... but since I keep blowing my budget by buying more fabric, I guess they'll just have to sit on the table and chair set in my sewing room! Tee! Hee! Hee! These pretty bags are also practical and instructions for both will be in the same pattern packet ... as soon as I finish writing the instructions ... GROAN!!!!!

So there you go ... thinking isn't always a bad thing and my Beloved Geek Boy was quite unjustified in asking ... "What will it cost and how much time will it take me?" ... this time! Tee! Hee! Hee! I'm now off to brace myself for pattern writing with a nice cup of tea ... I'll let you know when the pattern is available ... there might even be a give away ... I'll have to see if I'm feeling generous! :0) Hope your weekend was as constructive and productive as mine and that your new week is off to a fabulous start. Til next time ...

Sunday, 15 May 2011

YAY! I'm back!! Blogger has not been playing nice for a few days and not only have I not been able to do this post ... which I sat down to do on Thursday!! ... but I haven't been able to comment on other people's blogs ... how RUDE!! I've felt quite isolated without my blogging buddies!! But ... blogger seems to have sorted out it's "issues", so we're back on the air! :0)

To the title of my post ... in our household, if I walk into a room and announce,

"I've been thinking ..."

... my Beloved Geek Boy usually groans and his first response is ... "How much will it cost and how long will it take me?" Tee! Hee! Hee! He says most of my "I've been thinking ..." moments can be summed up that way ... and ... well ... he may have a valid point! Tee! Hee! Hee! HOWEVER ... not this time! :0)

There I was, sitting at my computer at work on Thursday, typing up some newsletter stuff for the retirement village where I work and my mind started to drift a bit ... as it often does!! Some people think it's odd that I can be typing one thing and be thinking about another ... what can I say ... my mind works in mysterious ways! Tee! Hee! Hee! And while my mind was wandering, I had a thought! No, it DIDN'T hurt ... I was sitting down at the time!! :0) (stop sniggering all of you who know me well!!!!) My thought then led to me popping into my Home-Away-From-Home on my way ... well ... to my OTHER home! :0) I had a cuppa and a lovely chat with Marion and Steph and bought what I needed to follow up my, "I've been thinking ..." moment ...

... A Pom Pom de Paris charm pack (I'm seriously addicted to these pretty fabrics at the moment!!), some Pom Pom yardage and some ... well ... pom poms! :0) Are you intrigued now? Are you wondering what I've been thinking???? Stay tuned!! Since there's been such a delay in being able to do this post, I've made some good progress on my 'thinking' project, so I should be back soon to show you. In the meantime ... can you GUESS where my errant imagination has taken me??? :0)

Right now, though, I'm off to make a bit of brunch (or just plain late brekkie, not sure what it should be called!) for GB and I, which will be enjoyed in front of the heater, cos my kitchen thermometer tells me it's only about 4 or 5 degrees in there again! BRRRRRR!! Good weather for polar bears and penguins, but not this little black duck!! :0) Hope you're all having a fabulous weekend so far ... perhaps YOU'VE been thinking too! :0) Til next time ...

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

OK ... I'm going to hurry up and TYPE!! Have been trying to jump on to do a post for a day and a bit now and blogger kept putting some funny 'thinking' swirly thingy on the writing window and it wouldn't let me type! GRRRRR!! But here I am now, taking advantage of being able to type again ... not a thinking swirly thingy in sight! :0)

On to the post ... last Saturday, I was incredibly fortunate to be involved in an AMAZING event! I've been telling you all for some time now about my time 'playing' out at Quilters Angel as part of Marion & Steph's wonderful Quilt Drive that involved making quilts to be distributed to people affected by the January flooding in the Lockyer Valley. An incredible number of ladies (from all over Australia!!) have been cutting, stitching, planning, sewing, pinning, ironing, quilting and binding to create a wonderful array of very special quilts, quilts that will remind flood victims that they are thought of, cared for and wrapped in warm, loving thoughts, just as they are wrapped in a colourful quilt. Saturday was the first distribution day and a small rural community called Mt Sylvia was our destination!! :0)

Bright and early on Saturday morning (well EARLY for this night owl on a Saturday!!!) sixteen of us gathered at Quilters Angel to load up the bus with homemade morning tea and ... of course!! ... QUILTS!!

Here are some of the ladies, forming a human chain to load the bags ... and bags ... and bags ... and BAGS!! ... of quilts onto the bus. We then loaded ourselves onto the bus, Marion did a head count to make sure we knew how many ladies we had to bring home again, and off we went. Bus driver Ian coped very well with 16 excited quilters and even threw in some snippets of information about where flood water had reached etc. as we passed through some of the areas worst hit by the flooding. It is very hard to match the images we all saw on the news with how the valley looks today, but there were enough reminders to reinforce what happened.

Some time later, we arrived at the Mt Sylvia State Primary School where a special fun day had been organised for people of the area to come together and just enjoy a day of family fun without worries or work. This was to be our distribution point, so the human chain formed again to UN-load the bus! :0)

See ... I TOLD you there were bags and bags ... and bags ... and BAGS! ... of quilts ready to be sent off to special new homes! :0) There were, in fact 104 quilts taken down to Mt Sylvia ... with another 80 or so left back at the shop to be distributed to other areas in coming months. But first ... we had to unpack THESE bags. We took over a classroom ...

... and spread quilts over desks ... over chairs ... over open windows ...

... over lines usually hung with posters and pictures ...

... over verandah and stair rails!! :0) Yes ... there's been some MIGHTY stitching efforts going on in the last few months! Tee! Hee! Hee! This is actually the last of my photos cos I put my camera in my bag to help pin labels to quilts ... and my bag was packed up with some other gear ready for the return trip home!!! OOPS! No more photos! :0) But I can tell you there were a lot of smiling faces! :0) Each of the students who attend the Mt Sylvia School were to receive a quilt and the looks on those little faces ... the smiles ... the joy ... the excitement ... made every pin stab, unpicked seam and tangled bobbin all worthwhile! :0) A number of quilts were also presented to adults in the area who had been affected by the flood.

Although Mt Sylvia wasn't under water to the extent other areas in the Lockyer Valley were, many farms suffered damage to crops, roads were badly damaged, the area was isolated for some time during the flooding and some people in the area did have homes flooded. It was wonderful to not just send off the quilts, but to be there to meet the recipients, chat with people and to listen to their stories. And many of the folks said they not only appreciated the quilts, but that we had taken the time to visit their area to hand them over.

Then it was time for hugs, waving and piling back on the bus to head back up the hill ... and time for some 'special' drinkies! :0) Thanks to all the Quilting Angels for sharing during this trip and during the months of stitching that led to it. I've enjoyed meeting new people and making new friends ... not to mention LAUGHING!! ... with these awesome ladies! :0) We joked that Hollywood has "Charlie's Angels", but ... Look out! Cos Highfields has "Marion's Angels"! Tee! Hee! Hee! Which brings me to a VERY important thank you. From the time this heart-warming concept was launched, two ladies have worked harder and longer than anyone else to make it happen. They've given up their rare and precious time off and put in HUGE amounts of their own finances and resources. Marion and Steph ... you truly are ANGELS!! Thank you SOOOOOOO much for your dedication, drive and determination to make the Quilt Drive a reality. Your vision of sharing quilts stitched with love with flood-affected families in the Lockyer Valley has become a heart-warming reality.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

And they're both GORGEOUS as well! :0) Now the other wonderful thing about the Quilt Drive is that it's not over yet! There are more quilts finished and ready to give out ... Marion is co-ordinating with the Lockyer Valley Regional Council to find the people who need them most ... and she'll be holding a meeting this week to talk about making this an on-going project ... stitchers meeting regularly to create quilts to be given to worthwhile causes and people who need to be reminded that even during difficult circumstances ... people care!

So ... that was my Saturday and I'm sad to say the rest of the weekend was a bit scrambled and interrupted, so not much sewing done again ... though I DID manage to get all of my Pom Pom de Paris squares joined ... just need to tackle the applique next and a couple of things need to be tweaked first. I promise to show you when I get organised.

And speaking of organised ... something I am NOT!!! :0) ... I missed out on showing you a photo of another gorgeous birthday giftie I received recently. It was from the Lovely Lilly Linda and she surprised me with it when we met up at Mt Tamborine a couple of weekends ago ... OOOOOOOHHH!! The only thing better than birthday gifties is SURPRISE birthday gifties! Tee! Hee! Hee!

No ... that's NOT a cupcake ... as such! It's a face washer that has been folded into a cute cupcake paper to make it LOOK like a cupcake and it's sitting on top of a GORGEOUS rose-scented soap ... I've left it sitting in my sewing room and it smells DIVINE!!! :0) And look at the pretty glittery, jingly bracelet!!! Oh yeah ... I was SPOILT this year for my extended birthday! Tee! Hee! Hee! THANK YOU LINDA!!!

Right now, though, I think I'm going to spoil myself with a nice hot cup of tea ... our temperatures have taken a sudden dive below 10 degrees ... about 8 degrees Celsius in my kitchen at 7am this morning ... BRRRRRRRR!!! I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I hate being cold!! SIGH! Not looking forward to the next few months at all!! Hope you're warm and snuggly wherever you may be. Hopefully blogger will let me come back a little sooner next time without swirly thinking thingies hogging the screen! :0) Til next time ...

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

As you can tell from my post title ... I sat down to write a wrap-up of my weekend ... only to realise that it's been almost a WEEK since I last posted! OOPS! Where did those six days go?!?!?!

So ... when I last posted, I said that my Beloved Geek Boy and I were going for a drive to Mt Tamborine to meet up with the Lovely Lilly Linda and her Beloved Tim ... well ... we did that! :0) We had a fairly pleasant drive and Bob (the little man who lives in GB's GPS unit and gives us travelling instructions!!) managed to get us to our destination without becoming geographically misplaced (sounds nicer than LOST, don't you think?!) and ... SHOCK! ... HORROR! ... we were actually EARLY!! Now, people who know us well KNOW that this is a rare and unusual phenomenon ... usually we run LATE! I told GB that perhaps we should drive round the block a few times or Linda and Tim wouldn't recognise that it was us ... and we DID in fact surprise them a little! Tee! Hee! Hee!

However ... we then set off to enjoy a wonderful day ... even if the weather DID deteriorate again ... SIGH!! Yep ... rain again ... though at least there was no thick fog or gale force winds like our LAST visit to Tamborine ... and the rain was gentle enough that we could still scoot between shops to stickybeak. BUT ... first port of call, of course, was the Craft Extravaganza to see what pretties were for sale. Oh ... I'll point out here that there aren't actually any photos taken AT Mt Tamborine ... cos I was too busy chatting, shopping, eating and having fun to remember ... OOPS! I promise I have photos later in the post, though, so stick with me here! :0) OK ... so ... I was VERY good at the craft fair and only bought one thing ... a VERY cute raggy dolly made by the clever-clogs Cath Walker of Cathron Country Designs. If you haven't 'met' her cuties yet, pop across and I dare you not to go ... "Aaaaaawwwwww!!" :0)

From the craft fair our fearless foursome ventured forth to the streets of Tamborine, where we found pretties, smellies, glitteries, tasties and wound up with a return visit to a cute antique/vintage/collectibles shop we discovered last trip, where I found a lovely white linen/cotton lace table mat and a sweet cup/saucer/plate trio ... so, here are my Tamborine Treasures ...

There's my dolly, who I've named "Daisy" ... I fell in love with her after deciding that her hair looks like MINE first thing in the morning! Tee! Hee! Hee! And she has such a sweet face. Cath really does a gorgeous job with her designs! In front of her is the folded table mat and the pretty trio ... I ADORE thatched-roof cottages and cottage garden scenes, so this one HAD to come home with me. And they are now adorning the table in my sewing room ...

I found a larger tray so my two pretty trios (the bluebird set I bought from Linda last time we were at Tamborine!!) now fit in it and it's tizzied up with the table mat ... with Daisy keeping an eye on them ... perfect!! I can see my sewing room becoming like "The Pool Room" in the movie, "The Castle"! Tee! Hee! Hee!

We enjoyed a DELICIOUS dinner with Linda and Tim at Belvedere on Main Street at North Tamborine ... I can highly recommend it as a lovely place to enjoy a meal if you're exploring up there. We then had a last cuppa, where GB got the wood heater cranked up (without cornchips!! Still not convinced about those as firestarters Linda!!!) and we then toodled off down the mountain and back up our hill, arriving back home at about quarter to one ... yes, in the MORNING!! :0) Night owls here, remember! :0) It was a long day, but oh so enjoyable to spend it with good friends. Thanks for yet another fun adventure, Linda and Tim!!! Can't wait for the next one! :0)

So that was FRIDAY ... should I have started off by telling you to grab a cuppa cos this could take a while?!?! Nah ... you should all know that by now! Tee! Hee! Hee! OK ... the weekend saw me enjoying LOTS of wonderful, uninterrupted time in my sewing room, enjoying the new decorating and layout ... it's working out very well so far!! I managed to finish something to add to my OPAM list just in time for the end of April, though I'm just getting to show you the pics now. I was inspired by some of Lilly Linda's lovely bunting ... but since she didn't have quite the right colours for my sewing room, I dug out some of my pretty fabrics and made some ...

GB hasn't got around to hanging it for me yet, so here it is draped over the daybed. And a bit closer look ...

There's some of my Charlevoix fabrics I bought at Marion's last sale, plus a couple of others I'd bought ages ago specifically to use when I re-did my sewing room. I love how the colours work together and can't wait to get GB to hang it for me! :0) If you're looking for some pretty bunting, you should visit Lilly Linda either on her blog or in person at Old Petrie Town each Sunday ... she has lots of pretty sets!!! :0) I also started playing with my Pom Pom de Paris fabrics on the weekend ... yes, I got brave and cut into my layer cake ... are you like me ... do you find it very hard to take that pretty packaging off pre-cut packs and actually USE them?!?! :0)

Cut into charm squares and all laid out ... gotta balance the colours and try not to get two the same too close to each other ... bit of a challenge, that! :0) Since this photos, I've sewn the squares into rows and have joined most of the rows ... then it will be time to play with some applique! FUN!! :0)

OK ... so that's my weekend'sWEEK'S wrap-up ... see ... I've been a busy bee! :0) Add to that the end of month OPAM blog-hopping and you can see why it's been nearly a week since my last post! Thanks to everyone who emailed their number of finishes through to Peg and me ... it's a big help to us at the end of the month. And thank you to everyone who's being diligent in keeping their sidebar list of finishes up-to-date, too, as this is our first port of call for the blog-hopping and it saves us so much time to have your lists easy to find and up-to-date. For the month of April, we (and I can include myself this month!!!) collectively finished ...

681 projects!!!

WELL DONE EVERYONE!!! It is so encouraging to see you all not only finishing projects, but letting us know how much you are enjoying creating and taking some time out for yourselves because you want to have finishes to record for OPAM each month ... that's what OPAM is all about! And congratulations to all of you who made some progress on your long-term projects too ... a few of you told me that you didn't have many finishes cos you were working on bigger projects, and that's fine ... we just can't WAIT to see your wonderful big projects all finished!! :0) Oh ... and due to my busy weekend week ... I'm still catching up on my emails, so if you haven't heard from me and you thought you should have ... I'm still getting there, so don't give up on me! :0)

Alright ... I've kept you all in suspenders long enough ... it's time to announce the April draw winners. Mr Random Number Generator chose three lucky gals and they are ...

CONGRATS GALS!! If you'd all like to email me with your snail mail addresses, I'll send out a surprise for you ... maybe I'll even warn your posties that you'll be stalking them soon! Tee! Hee! Hee!

So ... after that marathon effort ... I think that's it from me for now. Hope you're all having a fantastic week so far and managing to steal some time for yourself to stitch, create, relax and dream!! :0) Til next time ...